First Halloween is Best Halloween
by AgentOfAngst
Summary: Spoilers for season six! Deke and Flint haven't ever had families to celebrate Halloween with, now they do. They just have to figure out what Halloween is and adapt to these new traditions. Day 4 of my 7 days of Halloween challenge!


**Spoilers up to the end of season six, basically, but like an AU where the end of season six doesn't exactly happen and everything is happy and good. Also, it's my birthday! **

**We're in the endgame now! Next up is Avengers, then Gravity Falls, and finally Over the Garden Wall. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Okay, explain it to me slowly."

"Halloween is a holiday remembering and celebrating-" Jemma started and was ultimately interrupted by Fitz, "Something irrelevant actually. He doesn't need a history lesson, Jemma! It's a holiday where people dress up in costumes, children go around to other houses and get candy and adults party or watch scary movies."

"Ooh, we're going to party?" Deke asked.

"No, your grandparents are stay in and watch movie people. We'll stay here, pass out candy to children, wear costumes, make hot chocolate or cider and popcorn…" Fitz looked excited about the prospect of a relatively chill Halloween. Had they had anything like that since the Academy?

"We're just going to stay in and watch movies?" Deke complained. Jemma cringed, knowing that there was about to be an argument between grandfather and grandson.

"That's a great way to spend Halloween. You should be more excited!"

"We could be partying!"

"I've partied with you, it's not that fun. But listen, if you don't want to spend Halloween with us, fine!" Deke looked hurt. Fitz was fuming.

"Now, boys. We don't have to argue about this. Deke, we'd love it if you joined us for our Halloween traditions. You might like them more than you think. Fitz, don't try to exclude our grandson."

"I'm not trying to exclude him! I very much invited him! He's the one who's too cool to hang out with his boring old grandparents!" The young "grandfather" shouted, crossing his arms at the man displaced by time.

"Bold of you to assume that I'm cool!" Deke shouted back, causing Fitz to snicker.

"You're both behaving like children. Deke, you're still invited if you want to come. Fitz and I would love to have you. It's up to you, but it would be so great if we could celebrate as a family." Deke melted at the word family. He loved that word. It was great. It made him feel like he mattered in this timeline.

"I'll think about it."

"Let us know, maybe we can do a group costume," Jemma said, still mediating between her boys. They were so alike in their ability to drive her crazy. Deke melted all the more at the idea of being a part of this group. He only managed to hold off for one day before RSVPing.

"Did you send out the emails?" Elena called over to Mack as she got ready for Halloween.

"Yep, I think everyone will be understanding." Flint was a little old for trick-or-treating, but Elena and Mack didn't want to deprive him of an opportunity for a normal Halloween. He'd seemed so excited when they explained it to him, so Mack had sent out an email for his apartment building that their teenage foster son had never trick-or-treated before and wanted to do it at least once, so please don't be mean to him if he comes to the door. Elena had worked with him on his costume for a few weeks now, and everyone was excited. This first Halloween would be the best Halloween.

"You guys look adorable," Daisy told Jemma when Jemma showed her a picture of the group costume they'd decided on. Halloween wasn't until tomorrow night, but they'd had to try it on. Fitz was dressed as Dumbledore, Jemma was Minerva McGonagall, and Deke was their Harry Potter. Deke hadn't fully understood the costume until they'd marathoned the movies last weekend. Now he and Fitz regularly had arguments about characters and plot points and Deke was spending his free time listening to the audiobooks so he'd have the novelization to argue about, never one to be one-upped in an argument with his own Bobo. Fitz still absolutely hated to be called that, or at least he pretended to.

"Isn't it? We're going to hand out candy and watch as many scary movies as we can stomach."

"Deke has no idea what he's in for," Fitz grinned mischievously, ignoring the fact that he was just as spooked by jumpscares as any ordinary coward.

"We're not doing this to give the boy nightmares," Jemma insisted with an eye roll.

"Maybe you're not, but our traditions are not boring!"

"They're always arguing," Jemma said with another exasperated sigh.

"Because they're the exact same person," Daisy pointed out. Fitz sulked at her.

"But he's the worst!"

"Don't say that about our grandson, he's a lovely young man and a dutiful agent."

"Are we going to ignore all of the countless mistakes he's made and the many times he's recklessly endangered himself?" Fitz asked, arms crossed.

"Yes," Jemma left no room for arguing.

"Well, okay then." Daisy laughed at the two as they bickered and went to hear about Mack and Elena's Halloween plans. Apparently Flint was dressing up as a robot for Halloween, kind of a joke between Elena and Mack. Daisy was glad the kid was going to get a normal Halloween. It had to be more normal than whatever Fitz and Simmons were doing to poor Deke. Not that she felt bad for him.

Mack had wanted to take Flint around the building himself but he'd been talked out of it by Elena.

"He's a teenager, he knows the layout of the building and knows not to leave it, and he can more than protect himself. You still get to check through all his candy and make sure it's not poisoned. Just give him a chance to do this by himself, okay?"

"Fine." Flint felt like his second chance to be a father and he desperately didn't want to get it wrong. Which meant he was worried about the littlest things but also recognized the need to take other people's advice, especially Elena's. She was as much Flint's guardian and parent as he was.

"Do I look good?" Flint asked, coming out in his costume and doing a spin for the pair.

"You look fantastic. You ready to head out?"

"Yeah!"

"Come back when you're done and I'll check your bag to make sure nothing is poisoned, not to mention the dad tax…"

"The dad tax?"

"Dads get every other box of nerds. It's in the rules."

Flint narrowed his eyes at Mack, "Sounds fake, but okay." He'd adapted fast to this culture, a quick learner and a smart kid, eager to belong.

"Have fun!" Elena encouraged, giving him one last careful hug before he headed out with a pillowcase and a dream.

Deke and Fitz didn't stand a chance with the scary movies. After two and a half movies of accidentally dropping the popcorn and spilling the hot chocolate and the two bickering men hiding their faces in each other's shoulders, Jemma turned on Coco and Remember Me lulled the frightened boys to sleep. That meant Jemma had to tend to trick-or-treaters alone, but it was worth it for the pictures she got of bobo and grandson curled up on the couch under a blanket in their Halloween costumes. They would both try to deny snuggling but obviously she had photographic evidence that hit the SHIELD group chat before they even woke up to the sound of the credits. The first Halloween was the best Halloween.


End file.
